Mission Statement

As part of the federal government’s National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Eye Institute’s mission is to “conduct and support research, training, health information dissemination, and other programs with respect to blinding eye diseases, visual disorders, mechanisms of visual function, preservation of sight, and the special health problems and requirements of the blind.”

DESCRIPTION:

Electrororetinography (ERG)

The ultrasound must have access to a preprogrammed, customized set of ISCEV compliant testing capabilities currently needed for testing NEI protocol patients.Visual Electrophysiology system must have a set of ISCEV compliant testing capabilities. All included in one integrated space efficient visual electrophysiology system. To include the following specifications:

N.B. (blink response while testing) Saccades and recording must be continuous without interruption for the duration of the test.

Electroretinography (ERG) is an eye test used to detect abnormal function of the retina (the light-detecting portion of the eye). Specifically, in this test, the light-sensitive cells of the eye, the rods and cones, and their connecting ganglion cells in the retina are examined. During the test, an electrode is placed on the cornea (at the front of the eye) to measure the electrical responses to light of the cells that sense light in the retina at the back of the eye. These cells are called the rods and cones.

During an ERG recording session, the patient watches a standardized light stimulus, and the resulting signal is interpreted in terms of its amplitude (voltage) and time course. This test can even be performed in cooperative children, as well as sedated or anesthetized infants. The visual stimuli include flashes, called a flash ERG, and reversing checkerboard patterns, known as a pattern ERG.

The electrodes measure the electrical activity of the retina in response to light. The information that comes from each electrode is transmitted to a monitor where it is displayed as two types of waves, labeled the A waves and B wave.